Airport chief's travel is reasonable, effective

In response to

While the "Watchdog" and editorial page play a valuable role in our community, understanding what it really takes to sell something like international air service is another thing altogether.

In addition to my business based in San Diego, I have been operating offshore, primarily in Asia for nearly 15 years. I know the cost of travel and I know the cost of lodging as I fly in excess of 100,000 miles in the air and book 40 to 50 room nights a year in various Asian countries. Apparently you searched long and hard to find a couple of examples you deem as excessive expenses and therefore a misuse of public funds. While I could point to my own experiences in Singapore, which mimic the figures you quoted in your editorial, all you have to do is check the major airlines for their airfares to Singapore and you’ll find business class fares from restricted early purchase of $4,496 (American Airlines) to $7,220 (Cathay Pacific). The airfare paid for the Airport Authority’s CEO was not out of line.

Lodging is another issue. In business, to cut down on travel time and transportation expense, you generally book a hotel closest to your business meetings. Sometimes that requires you to stay in hotels that are more expensive. But while I don’t know where Ms. Bowen’s meetings were held, I can tell you that business hotels in Singapore, and throughout Asia, can be and indeed are expensive by San Diego standards. For example the Marriott in Singapore, a marque quite familiar to San Diegans, has a standard fare room rate that, depending on the time of year and the advance of your booking, can cost up to $500 a night. A business suite there will set you back $557 a night. The lodging charge for Ms. Bowen is right in the norm, and depending upon the location may in fact be on the low end.

Finally, let’s talk about the business of selling our wonderful region. This time I’ll use my own experience as an example. When I started to develop my business in China, I continued to visit for two years before I was successful in making my first deal. Two years! And that was a relatively small transaction! Convincing British Airlines and JAL to commence non-stops out of San Diego didn’t happen overnight nor with one sales call by the Airport. I hope it’s clear that if we want these kinds of services for our Region, we need to invest in the effort. And that means travel. And yes, that means spending money. But is it worth the Airport spending 0.02% of their 2012 budget on travel (yes I actually called and ask!)?? Well with the stated annual return of $156 million on the SD-London route alone, I would say as a business transaction this works.

As an international business person, I don’t expect my paper to pat the Airport on the back for helping to build business opportunities that create jobs and generate taxes. But I do expect a more balanced understanding of travel costs and business benefits to promoting our Region.